Southeast Guilford denies Warriors in tournament final

By Conor O'Neill / Times-News

Published: Sunday, March 31, 2013 at 01:02 AM.

Southeast Guilford (11-1) grabbed its first lead with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, when D.J. Artis narrowly beat out an infield single with two outs. After Artis’ single drove in pinch-runner Tyrone Woolard, Cody Ezzell lined the next pitch up the middle to drive in Carmine Pagano and give the Falcons a two-run cushion.

Reliever Will Greene, who entered in the fifth and picked up the victory, struck out the side in the top of the seventh.

The downside for Western Alamance proved to be an offense that was silenced by Southeast Guilford starter Devin Sweet and Greene, who combined for 13 strikeouts.

“A lot of off-speed (pitches), getting ahead with off speeds and throwing fastballs by you,” said Warriors’ Garret Hodge of how Sweet and Greene were successful.

Hodge had one of the Warriors’ two hits, but it was his hustle after a strikeout in the third inning that led to Western Alamance’s runs.

Swinging and missing for the third strike with runners on second and third, Hodge didn’t hesitate to sprint toward first base when he saw catcher Ryan Stanley unable to handle the pitch. Stanley tried to chase Hodge down the line for a few steps, then fumbled the ball, recovered it and shoveled it past first baseman Cameron Gardner, allowing Breydan Gorham and Brock Deatherage to score.

Hodge was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Deatherage and Patrick Hinshaw.

GRAHAM — Western Alamance coach Lance Huff was hard pressed to find the negatives of Saturday night’s championship game of the Graham Boosters Easter Tournament.

And that was after his team surrendered two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and lost 4-2 at the hands of Southeast Guilford, which won the tournament for the fourth straight season.

“This is not going to make or break our season,” Huff said. “This is just, they’re a good (Class) 4-A playoff school and if we want to be a good playoff school we’ve got to compete in these type of games.”

It is the second straight time Western Alamance (11-3) has fallen in the championship game of the annual tournament to Southeast Guilford, although this one has a lot better of a feeling than last year’s 15-4 result.

“You never want to be second place, but 4-2 is a lot better than 15-4,” Huff said.

And if he had to choose, Huff would rather learn from such a tight loss than win a blowout.

“I’d rather lose a 4-2 game to those guys and be better than win a 21-nothing game against somebody else,” he said.

Southeast Guilford (11-1) grabbed its first lead with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, when D.J. Artis narrowly beat out an infield single with two outs. After Artis’ single drove in pinch-runner Tyrone Woolard, Cody Ezzell lined the next pitch up the middle to drive in Carmine Pagano and give the Falcons a two-run cushion.

Reliever Will Greene, who entered in the fifth and picked up the victory, struck out the side in the top of the seventh.

The downside for Western Alamance proved to be an offense that was silenced by Southeast Guilford starter Devin Sweet and Greene, who combined for 13 strikeouts.

“A lot of off-speed (pitches), getting ahead with off speeds and throwing fastballs by you,” said Warriors’ Garret Hodge of how Sweet and Greene were successful.

Hodge had one of the Warriors’ two hits, but it was his hustle after a strikeout in the third inning that led to Western Alamance’s runs.

Swinging and missing for the third strike with runners on second and third, Hodge didn’t hesitate to sprint toward first base when he saw catcher Ryan Stanley unable to handle the pitch. Stanley tried to chase Hodge down the line for a few steps, then fumbled the ball, recovered it and shoveled it past first baseman Cameron Gardner, allowing Breydan Gorham and Brock Deatherage to score.

Hodge was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Deatherage and Patrick Hinshaw.

“That was a perfect example of any baseball player to hustle, even when things go wrong, and we may be rewarded and we were,” Huff said. “It’s not the ideal way to score, but we will take it.”

Southeast Guilford tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Pagano hit a two-out single on a 0-2 pitch. The hit scored Josh Blackwell and Avery Alley scored from second base when the relay throw was dropped.

-- WESTERN GUILFORD 2, EASTERN ALAMANCE 0: In the third-place game, Western Guilford outlasted Eastern Alamance 2-0. Austin Sisbarro led the Hornets with two hits, including a double.

Kyle Edwards rapped two hits for the Eagles (6-6) and Zack Littell had a double. Littell and Blake Walters were honored with all-tournament selections.

-- CHATHAM CENTRAL 16, DURHAM SCHOOL OF THE ARTS 0, 5 innings: In the fifth-place game, Chatham Central’s Seth Elkins went 2-for-3 with three RBI on his way to earning the tournament’s award for the top hitter. He was 8-for-10 in the tournament.

-- GRAHAM 10, BURLINGTON CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 0, 5 innings: In the seventh-place game, Graham’s Taylor Perry hit a double and home run and drove in three runs. Devon Burch was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Logan Andrews drove in three runs.

Josh Beam was named to the all-tournament team for Graham (3-7). Jonathon Cox represented BCA (2-9) on the all-tournament team.